UK Tour of BRAVE NEW WORLD Releases Full Cast & Dates

Further casting has been announced for Brave New World, a co-production by Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Touring Consortium Theatre Company, with Abigail McKern, William Postlethwaite,Gruffudd Glyn, Olivia Morgan and Scott Karim joining the previously announced Sophie Ward in the ensemble cast, and Frantic Assembly's Eddie Kay joining the creative team for this world premiere production. Aldous Huxley's ground-breaking novel, newly adapted for the stage by Dawn King with original music by These New Puritans, is opening in Northampton this September before a major national tour.

Welcome to the future, where a genetically engineered class system has finally brought order and stability to the world. This Brave New World has no family, religion or war. Lust and pleasure have replaced love and art. People are safe, healthy and not afraid of death. They get what they want, and they never want what they can't have. Everyone is happy now.

When this stability is threatened, one young woman learns the pain of love and one young man gives in to the love of pain.

First published in 1932, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is widely seen to be one of the most important novels of the 20th century, anticipating developments in reproductive technology, psychological manipulation and behavioural conditioning. Set 600 years in the future human life has been almost entirely industrialised, and humans are created and conditioned in a lab according to a strict caste system, in a World State whose motto is "Community, Identity, Stability". Monogamy, the family unit and the 'natural' process of giving birth, are considered horrific and unnatural, and material comfort and physical pleasure - provided by the drugsoma and recreational sex - represent society's highest good.

In the role of Margaret Mond, the Regional World Controller for Western Europe (a character that was the male Mustapha Mond in the original novel), this world premiere production features popular actress Sophie Ward, whose extensive screen credits include TV series Land Girls, Heartbeat and Holby City, and films including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Young Sherlock. Her theatre work includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Go Back For Murder and Private Lives. Olivier Award-winning Abigail McKern, last seen in Northampton in A Tale of Two Cities and fresh from Shakespeare in Love in the West End, takes the role of Linda. The ensemble cast also includes Olivia Morgan (Macbeth, West End, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare's Globe), William Postlethwaite (King Lear, Bath Theatre Royal, Collaborators, National Theatre) as John the Savage, Scott Karim (The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's Globe, Great Britain, National Theatre) as Helmholtz Watson, and Gruffudd Glyn (Three Sisters, Young Vic, Hamlet, RSC) as Bernard. The cast also includes Theo Ogundipe as Benito, Samantha Pearl as Polly, James Howard as the Director and David Burnett as Henry.

The play is directed by Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director James Dacre (The Body of an American, King John, Arthur Miller's The Hook) with original music by These New Puritans, whose last album was described by Record Collector as "arguably the musical achievement of the 2010s so far." It has been adapted for the stage by Dawn King, whose credits include the plays Ciphers and Foxfinder, and the BAFTA-nominated short film The Karman Line. The production is designed by Naomi Dawson, whose recent credits include The Roaring Girl, King John and As You Like It for the RSC, with Frantic Assembly'sEddie Kay (The Pass, Royal Court, Othello, Frantic Assembly) as movement director. Lighting design is byColin Grenfell (Black Watch, National Theatre of Scotland, The Mother, Theatre Royal Bath) with sound design by George Dennis (Regeneration, Royal & Derngate/Touring Consortium Theatre Company, Liberian Girl, Royal Court). Video designer Keith Skretch also joins the creative team, with fight direction by RC Annie.

Brave New World is a co-production between Royal & Derngate and the Touring Consortium Theatre Company, continuing the relationship which brought audiences Pat Barker's Regeneration last year, and To Sir, With Love in 2013. The production is funded by the Arts Council of England's Strategic Touring Programme.

Brave New World can be seen on Northampton's Royal stage, from Friday 4 to Saturday 26 September, and then tours until 5 December. The production is recommended for ages 14 and above, due to its adult themes.

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